The departures are the latest escalation in a deepening political crisis that has paralyzed major cities and threatened Paz's government.

Workers, farmers, miners, transport workers and teachers are demanding measures to ease the country's worst economic crisis in four decades.

Paz, who was backed by US President Donald Trump, has warned that Bolivia is at a "breaking point."

The government has refused to rule out declaring a state of emergency and using the military to control the demonstrations.

"Yes, this information is confirmed," said a Defense Ministry source who confirmed Marcelo Salinas' departure but requested anonymity.

Education Minister Beatriz Garcia also resigned, her ministry said.

About 100 road blockades have been reported nationwide, nearly double the number two weeks ago, according to official data.

The roadblocks have triggered shortages of food, medicine and fuel in La Paz, neighboring El Alto and other cities, and driven up prices of basic goods.

The government has accused protesters of attempting to "alter the democratic order" and suggested former socialist president Evo Morales is driving the protests.

Morales is in hiding while facing charges of trafficking a teenage girl with whom he allegedly fathered a child.

He told AFP recently that Bolivians are furious because Paz oversees "a government that is utterly submissive" to Washington.

"I am totally convinced this rebellion is against the neo-liberal model and the neo-colonial state," he said.

Morales led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and fled to Mexico during a popular uprising against him after a disputed election. He returned from exile in 2020.

Bolivian media reported that Salinas resigned and was replaced by Ernesto Justiniano, a junior minister who acts as the country's anti-drug tsar.

Paz has attempted to quell protesters' fury by saying he will cut his own salary in half in solidarity with the poor -- a purely symbolic gesture since his monthly earnings come to around 24,000 bolivianos ($3,500).

He has also vowed to give Indigenous groups and labor unions more of a say in policy-making and fired his unpopular labor minister -- all to no avail.